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We 

Enhanced  Significance 

of  the 

Presbyterian  Foreign 
Missions’  Enterprise 
in  the  Light  of 
the  War 


ABRAM  WOODRUFF  HALSEY 


Address  at  the 

LAKE  GENEVA  CONFERENCE 

September,  1919 


The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/enhancedsignificOOhals 


THE  ENHANCED  SIGNIFICANCE 
OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS’  EN- 
TERPRISE IN  THE 
LIGHT  OF  THE 
WAR 

The  World  War  directly  affected  eighteen 
of  the  twenty-seven  missionary  enterprises 
under  the  care  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  U.  S.  A.  Japan,  Siam, 
China  and  Guatemala  were  our  Allies  in 
the  war.  .Africa,  Chosen,  India  and  Syria 
were  directly  affiliated  with  nations  in  the 
war,  while  Persia,  one  of  the  great  mission 
fields  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  suffered 
enormous  losses  on  account  of  the  war. 
The  destructive  forces  at  work  during  the 
war  period  affected  mission  lands  as  well 
as  all  other  lands.  It  will  take  a generation 
or  more  to  recover  the  losses,  material, 
moral  and  physical,  caused  by  the  war. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  war  brought 
into  special  prominence  the  philanthropic, 
humanitarian  and  social  aspects  of  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  It  placed  foreign  mis- 
sions on  the  map  of  the  politician,  the 
statesman,  the  merchant  in  Occidental 
lands,  and  brought  vividly  to  the  attention 
of  the  rulers  and  common  people  of  Ori- 
ental lands  the  work  and  the  worth  of  the 
missionary. 

The  missionary,  as  a temporary  govern- 
ment official,  as  an  agent  of  the  Red  Cross, 
as  a distributor  of  relief  funds,  as  a trans- 
lator and  interpreter,  and  in  many  other 
capacities,  was  no  inconsiderable  asset.  The 
Presbyterian  missionary  did  his  full  bit. 

The  enhanced  significance  of  the  Presby- 
terian Foreign  Missions’  enterprise  is  seen 
in  the  light  of  the  war. 


I 


I. 


THE  TWELVE  YEAR  OLD 
PROGRAM 

The  war  has  awakened  in  the  Church  at 
home  a sense  of  responsibility  that  makes 
possible  the  carrying  out  of  a twelve-year- 
old  world-embracing  program.  At  the  re- 
quest of  the  New  Era  Movement,  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  presented  in  July,  1919, 
a five-year  program.  TKe  amount  asked  for 
at  the  end  of  the  fifth  year,  1924,  was  $8,500,- 
000.  This  program  is  almost  identical, 
making  allowances  for  the  growth  and 
membership  of  the  Church,  with  that  de- 
signed and  presented  by  the  far-visioned 
men  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions in  1907.  It  is  well  to  recall  a bit 
of  history.  On  July  18,  1906,  the  Presby- 
terian Foreign  Board  sent  a questionnaire 
to  all  the  missions  under  its  care.  Each 
mission  was  asked  to  state  its  distinct  mis- 
sionary responsibility.  A year  was  con- 
sumed in  receiving  and  tabulating  the  re- 
plies. In  February,  1907,  a remarkable  con- 
ference was  held  at  Omaha,  Nebraska, 
known  as  the  Omaha  Conference.  The  ad- 
dresses delivered  at  this  Conference  were 
embodied  in  a volume  entitled— -“Men  and 
the  Modern  Missionary  Enterprise.” 

This  volume  contains  an  address  by  Mr. 
David  McConaughy,  in  which  is  the  gist  of 
the  present  stewardship  campaign  of  the 
New1  Era  Movement;  also  an  address  by 
the  Rev.  W.  S.  Marquis,  D.D.,  on  “Mission- 
ary Methods  for  Men  in  the  Local  Church  ; 
suggestive  of  much  which  is  now  being  pre- 
sented as  a part  cf  the  New  Era  Pro- 
srrs  m;  also  a scholarly  paoer  by  Dr.  T. 
H.  P.  Sailer  on  the  “?4eed  of  Systematic 
Missionary  Education.”  Mission  s.udy 
classes  throughout  the  country  to-day  are 


following  almost  literally  the  plans  and 
methods  presented  by  Dr.  Sailer.  Secretary 
Robert  E”.  Speer  delivered  an  address  on  the 
“Distinct  Missionary  Responsibility  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.”  This  address  was 
based  on  data  gathered  by  the  Board  in  the 
questionnaire.  Mr.  Speer  stated  that  with  a 
yearly  contribution  by  the  members  at  home 
of  a minimum  of  $6,000,000  the  Church  in  a 
generation  could  hope  to  make  Jesus  Christ 
known  to  the  people  for  whom  the  Presby- 
terian Church  was  responsible  on  the  mis- 
sion fields. 

The  Rev.  Charles  E.  Bradt,  D.D.,  whose 
active  mind  and  tireless  brain  conceived  and 
carried  out  the  great  Conference  summed  up 
the  matter  by  declaring  that  “our  present 
enterprise  costs  about  $1,200,000  a year. 
The  membership  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
is  1,200,000.  If  we  could  secure  an  average 
of  five  dollars  per  member  we  could  in 
some  measure  meet  our  missionary  respon- 
sibility.” 

The  membership  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  year  1919  is  in  round  num- 
bers, 1,600,000.  Allowing  for  a reasonable 
increase  in  the  next  four  years,  an  average 
gift  of  $5  a member  will  not  much  exceed 
the  ratio  asked  for  in  1S07. 

The  appeals  of  1S07  and  1919  are  both 
based  on  definite  data.  In  the  light  of  the 
war  the  enhanced  significance  of  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise  makes  it  possible  if  not 
orcbable  that  this  entire  sum  can  be  reached 
by  1324. 


II. 

STRATEGIC  POSITIONS 

The  enhanced  significance  of  the  Presby- 
terian Foreign  Missions  enterprise  is  also 
'■een  in  the  strategic  position  occupied  by 
' o missions  of  the  Board  in  the  light  of  the 
war. 


3 


1.  No  one  country  is  more  discussed  at 
the  present  moment  than  Mexico.  It  is  at 
our  doors,  and  it  is  at  our  doors  better 
equipped  from  a mission  point  of  view  than 
ever  before  in  the  history  of  Protestant  mis- 
sions in  Mexico.  In  1914,  there  was  held  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  a Conference  of  represen- 
tatives of  practically  all  the  Mission  Boards 
at  work  in  Mexico.  At  this  Conference  a 
plan  of  co-operation  looking  for  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  work  in  that  Republic, 
the  diminishing  of  missionary  competition, 
the  occupation  of  the  entire  country,  was 
adopted  after  careful  and  prayerful  discus- 
sion. At  a Conference  held  in  the  City  of 
Mexico  in  February,  1919,  the  final  adjust- 
ments of  this  plan  were  completed,  so  that 
practically,  in  its  great  broad  outlines,  the 
work  in  Mexico  has  been  established  on  a 
great  co-operative  basis.  The  Presbyterian 
Church,  North,  has  given  up  its  work  in  the 
north  at  Aguascalientes,  and  Saltillo,  San 
Luis  Potosi  and  Monterey,  and  taken  up  new 
work  in  Vera  Cruz,  in  Oaxaca,  in  Yucatan, 
Campeche  and  Tabasco.  The  new  work  in 
these  countries  has  made  rapid  progress. 
The  change  effected  by  the  Board,  in  the 
willingness  to  give  up  long  established  mis- 
sion work  and  co-operate  with  other  Boards, 
has  opened  up  large  vistas  of  opportunity  in 
a country  that  is  struggling  for  a new  na- 
tional life.  The  hope  of  the  Mexican  is  in 
an  intelligent  constituency,  educated  along 
the  line  of  Protestant  Christianity. 

The  Union  Seminary,  in  which  the  North- 
ern, Southern  and  Associate  Reformed  Pres- 
byterians, Northern  and  Southern  Method- 
ists, Northern  Baptists,  Congregationalists, 
Disciples  and  Friends  are  united,  has  now 
become  a reality,  and  has  already  proved 
the  wisdom  of  this  splendid  bit  of  co-opera- 
tive missionary  effort.  The  mission  presses 
of  the  Methodist  Church  and  of  the  Presby- 
terian North,  have  been  united,  and  we 

4 


iiave  now  one  great  mission  press.  While 
some  adjustments  are  yet  to  be  made,  still 
the  plan  so  long  contemplated  is  in  actual 
operation.  The  weekly  papers  published  re- 
spectively by  the  Methodist  and  Presby- 
terian Missions  have  been  united  in  one 
weekly  religious  paper,  thus  meeting  the 
needs  of  a large  constituency,  and  promot- 
ing in  a practical  way  the  spirit  of  co-opera- 
tion which  found  its  expression  in  the  Cin- 
cinnati Conference.  The  Mission  has  the 
good  will  of  the  Mexican  people  and  the 
good  will  of  the  Government. 

Little  damage  has  been  done  to  mission 
property  during  these  years  of  revolution. 
While  the  condition  of  the  country  is  still 
unsettled  and  there  are  many  serious  civil 
and  social  problems,  yet  the  war  has  re- 
vealed the  good  will  of  the  Government  and 
of  the  people  toward  the  Protestant  mis- 
sionary. 

2.  One  of  the  large  problems  before  the 
Peace  Conference  is  what  shall  be  done 
with  the  million  square  miles  in  Africa, 
formerly  under  the  supervision  of  Germany, 
and  now  to  be  controlled  by  the  Allies. 
It  is  well  to  remember  that  200,000  square 
miles  of  this  territory  is  in  Cameroun,  where 
are  located  the  principal  stations  of  the 
West  Africa  Mission. 

The  Mission  in  Cameroun  is  one  of  the 
most  successful  missions  in  connection  with 
the  work  of  the  Board.  The  question  re- 
garding Cameroun  and  all  the  other  terri- 
tory wrested  from  the  Germans  in  Africa 
is.  whether  Europe  is  to  exploit  these  peo- 
ple and  to  seize  the  vast,  untouched  re- 
sources, or  whether  there  is  to  be  an  en- 
lightened development  of  the  country.  The 
era  of  exploration  has  passed,  the  era  of 
partition  has  passed,  will  the  new  era  be  a 
reign  of  righteousness  or  of  greed? 

5 


The  Cameroun  Mission  is  strategically  lo- 
cated in  the  providence  of  God  to  aid  in  the 
proper  answer  to  this  question.  In  Cam- 
eroun there  are  7 principal  stations,  459 
outstations,  and  a constituency  of  not  less 
than  150,000.  The  zeal  and  earnestness  of 
the  missionary  and  the  evangelistic  spirit 
of  the  Christians,  have  won  the  favor  of 
the  French  Government,  now  administering 
the  Colony,  and  every  indication  points  to  a 
large  development  of  this  entire  region  now 
under  the  allied  government.  Strategy  is 
the  word  which  fittingly  expresses  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Cameroun  Mission. 

3.  Even  more  prominent  and  more  stra- 
tegic in  the  light  of  the  war  is  the  mission 
work  in  Chosen.  Rev.  Arthur  Judson 
Brown,  D.D.,  in  his  recent  volume — “The 
Mastery  of  the  Far  East,”  states  that 
Chosen  is  the  pivot  on  which  the  Eastern 
question  turns. 

The  population  of  Japan  is  increasing  at 
the  rate  of  800,000  yearly.  Her  country  is 
small.  She  must  expand.  Chosen  is  her 
natural  outlet.  Japanese  statesmen  believe 
that  it  is  necessary  that  she  should  control 
Chosen. 

Chosen  at  the  present  time  is  a storm 
centre.  The  relations  of  Japan  to  Chosen 
and  China  is  agitating  the  entire  world.  Re; 
call  how  providentially  Chosen  was  opened. 
An  offer  of  $5,000  from  a member  of  the 
Foreign  Board  was  the  immediate  occasion 
of  the  beginning  of  mission  work  in  Chosen. 
That  is  nearly  a generation  ago.  Chosen 
was  then  the  Hermit  Nation.  The  war  has 
brought  Chosen  to  the  attention  of  the  civ- 
ilized world.  The  noble  moral  struggle  for 
independence — no  armed  force  was  used — 
made  by  the  Koreans,  has  brought  Chosen 
to  the  attention  of  all  thoughtful  men.  In 
Chosen  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  cf 
the  Presbyterian  Church  has  8 stations, 

6 


1,200  outstations,  144  missionaries,  1,200 
churches  and  groups,  and  a church  member- 
ship of  53,000;  and  an  attendance  on  the 
Lord’s  day  of  more  than  100,000.  The 
schools  of  the  Mission  are  scattered  all  over 
the  country.  The  hospitals  for  many  years 
have  been  scenes  of  blessing  for  thousands 
of  people.  Whatever  may  be  the  right  or 
wrong  of  the  uprising  of  the  Koreans 
against  the  government  in  Chosen,  Chosen 
is  no  longer  the  Hermit  Nation.  She  stands 
in  the  lime-light  of  the  world,  and  it  is 
most  significant  that  one  of  the  strongest 
missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  in  a 
land  that  for  months  has  been  the  subject 
of  discussion  among  people  throughout  the 
entire  world. 

Chosen  is  not  only  strategic  for  Japan,  it 
is  strategic  for  the  whole  mission  world. 

4.  The  question  of  Chosen  is  closely- 
bound  up  with  the  section  of  the  League  of 
Nations  which  deals  with  the  Province  of 
Shantung.  This  great  province  of  the  Re- 
public of  China  is  one  of  the  strongholds  of 
Presbyterian  mission  work.  Here  are  nine 
mission  stations,  500  outstations,  128  mis- 
sionaries, nearly  a thousand  native  teachers 
and  workers;  no  less  than  fifteen  high 
schools  and  400  other  schools,  with  one 
great  Christian  Union  University  whose  in- 
fluence has  steadily  increased  until  it  is 
possibly  the  dominating  Christian  institu- 
tion in  all  Shantung,  if  not  in  all  China. 

The  scene  of  the  dispute  in  the  center  of 
Shantung,  is  Kiaochow  Bay,  whose  port  is 
the  City  of  Tsingtau.  The  Board  has  a sta- 
tion at  Tsingtau.  Much  trouble  has  been 
experienced  in  the  last  year  in  connection 
with  the  work  at  this  station.  Native  work- 
ers have  been  arrested,  indignities  have 
been  inflicted  on  many  of  the  members  of 
the  native  church.  The  Mission  compound 
has  been  surrounded  by  houses  of  ill  fame. 

7 


It  is  stated  in  a Canton  paper  that  the 
profits  of  the  smuggling  of  opium  into 
Tsingtau  in  1918  amounted  to  more  than 
$10,000,000.  . In  an  article  published  in 
“Asia”  for  September,  1919,  facts  and  inci- 
dents are  given  showing  that  Tsingtau  is 
certainly  greatly  needing  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  No  question  that  opium  and 
morphine  and  liquor  are  being  allowed  to 
enter  into  Tsingtau  and  Shantung.  No  one 
section  in  the  Peace  Treaty  has  been  more 
discussed  than  the  relation  of  Shantung  to 
the  world  peace,  and  to  the  League  of  Na- 
tions. 

The  coolie  in  Shantung,  the  jinricksha 
man  in  Osaka,  the  Sikh  in  Lahore,  the  Arab 
in  the  desert — the  statesmen  in  London,  in 
Persia,  in  Washington,  in  Rome,  in  Berlin, 
in  Tokyo — and  thoughtful  men  throughout 
the  world,  are  discussing  the  question 
whether  Japan  has  a right  to  occupy  Shan- 
tung, wrested  from  the  Germans,  the  Ger- 
mans having  taken  it  from  the  Chinese 
without  due  process  of  law.  .Shantung  is 
one  of  the  great  assets  of  the  Board,  and 
in  the  light  of  the  war  the  enhanced  sig- 
nificance of  the  work  in  Shantung  is  very 
manifest. 

5.  Only  a few  weeks  after  Dewey  had 
won  the  battle  in  Manila  Bay,  the  pastor  of 
a Presbyterian  Church  in  Yonkers,  N.  Y., 
wrote  the  Board — “We  have  a thousand  dol- 
lars to  give  you  if  you  will  enter  the  Phil- 
ippine Islands.”  The  first  missionary  who 
went  out  is  there  to-day  doing  magnificent 
service.  This  far-reaching  possession  of 
Uncle  Sam,  with  its  great  Ellinwood  Bible 
Training  Station,  its  wonderful  Silliman  In- 
stitute, with  its  stations  scattered  through- 
out the  Islands,  working  in  the  most  splen- 
did co-operation  of  any  mission  in  the 
world,  and  its  growing  constituency,  is  a 
place  of  vantage  in  the  best  colonial  ex- 

8 


periment  the  world  has  ever  known,  under 
the  American  flag.  Strategic  is  the  only 
word  that  will  rightly  express  the  place  and 
position  of  our  Philippine  Mission. 

In  the  brief  period  since  the  close  of  the 
Spanish  war,  the  Philippine  Mission  has 
grown  so  that  there  are  11  stations,  173 
outstations,  17,000  communicants,  10  hos- 
pitals, and  an  aggressive  evangelistic  work 
that  bids  fair  to  bring  very  large  results  in 
the  near  future.  In  view  of  America’s  re- 
sponsibility to  the  whole  eastern  world,  the 
position  of  the  Philippine  Mission  under 
American  control  gives  it  a coign  of  vantage 
that  rightly  occupied  will  mean  large  things 
for  the  future. 

The  strategic  positions  of  the  Missions  of 
the  Board  at  the  close  of  the  war,  shows 
the  enhanced  value  of  the  Foreign  Missions 
enterprise. 


III. 

MISSION  MANDATORIES 

The  enhanced  significance  of  the  Presby- 
terian Foreign  Missions  enterprise  in  the 
light  of  the  war  is  evident  because  of  the 
mission  mandatories  which  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  the  Church  must  assume. 
Thoughtful  men  are  considering  with  much 
concern  what  nation  will  have  the  manda- 
tory for  Constantinople,  for  Armenia,  for 
Africa,  for  Syria.  This  is  a matter  of  politi- 
cal concern,  but  there  are  mandatories  re- 
ligious which  the  Presbyterian  Church  can- 
not escape. 

A “mandatory”  is  “that  which  is  of  the 
nature  of,  pertaining  to,  or  conveying  a 
command,  a mandate,”  and  there  are  cer- 
tain mission  mandatories  which  are  laid  up- 
on the  Presbyterian  Church  at  the  present 
hour. 


9 


1.  The  new  work  in  Manchuria.  Only  a 
few  years  ago,  Koreans,  driven  it  may  be 
by  persecution,  or  listening  to  the  call  of 
the  West,  moved  into  Manchuria,  thousands 
of  them.  Readers  of  mission  literature  will 
recall  that  John  Ross,  the  pioneer  mission- 
ary to  Manchuria,  found  there  a few 
Koreans  when  he  was  opening  up  the 
work  for  the  Scotch  Mission  about  1872. 
This  was  the  real  beginning  of  mission 
work  in  Chosen.  After  the  Japanese  occu- 
pation, thousands  of  Christian  Koreans  mi- 
grated to  Manchuria.  They  took  the  Gospel 
with  them.  The  Korean  Church  sent  its 
own  evangelist  to  minister  to  the  emigrants. 
By  1917  the  Korean  church  in  Manchuria, 
then  only  four  years  old,  had  a member- 
ship of  3,500 — two-thirds  of  this  number 
having  been  brought  to  Christ  since  mi- 
grating to  Manchuria.  At  the  town  of  Sin 
Chin  Fu,  on  the  main  road  between  Mukden 
and  Tunghua,  is  the  center  of  the  work. 

This  town  has  a population  of  from 
15,000  to  20,000.  No  other  denomination 
but  our  own  is  working  there  save  the 
Scotch  Church  and  the  Danish  Lutheran 
which  is  ministering  to  the  Chinese.  Thou- 
sands more  of  the  Koreans  will  naturally 
migrate  to  Manchuria.  It  is  the  “Golden 
West”  to  the  Korean,  with  vast  undevel- 
oped resources. 

The  Korean  is  readily  accessible  to  the 
Gospel.  The  Korean  Church  because  of 
the  oppression  to  which  it  has  been  sub- 
jected on  account  of  the  independence 
movement,  v/ill  not  be  able  to  carry  on 
this  new  missionary  enterprise  as  it  has 
practically  done  the  past  four  years.  The 
Church  in  the  home  land  must  recognize 
this  as  a mandatory  growing  out  of  the  war 
conditions  which  it  is  her  duty  and  privilege 
to  undertake. 


io 


2.  In  January,  1317,  a group  of  mission- 
aries and  Siamese  Christians  started  iron 
Chieng  Mai,  Siam,  to  Yunnan,  China.  A 
new  station  was  opened  at  Chieng  Hung. 
Here  are  thousands  of  people  without  the 
Gospel,  whose  language  is  akin  to  that  of 
the  Laos  in  north  Siam.  On  Sunday,  Janu- 
ary 19,  ISIS,  a communion  service  was  cele- 
brated at  Chieng  Rung,  the  beginning  of  the 
fruitage  of  this  large  unevangelized  terri- 
tory extending  from  Indo-China  and  Yun- 
nan to  the  Canton  Mission  in  Kwangtung. 
It  was  “No  Man’s  Land”  until  a little  group 
of  Presbyterian  missionaries  began  their 
work  in  1817. 

On  December  20,  1313,  Rev.  W.  C.  Dodd 
writes  from  Chieng  Rung  to  a fellow  mis- 
sionary : — 

“There  are  8 cities  or  large  towns 
where  I think  we  should  have  Tai  workers 
— Hanoi  and  Langson  in  Indo-China  on 
the  railway;  Poseting  on  the  south  fork  of 
the  West  River  (Canton  is  on  this  river) ; 
Hsing-fu  on  the  north  fork  of  the  West 
River;  Lungchow,  north  of  Langson;  Ship- 
ing  and  Lingan-fu,  about  200  miles  north- 
east of  Chieng-Rung;  Nanning-fu,  on  the 
main  branch  of  the  West  River.  These, 
with  Kwangnan-fu  make  nine  places  where 
we  ought  to  be  at  work  to-day.  We  hope 
that  now  the  war  is  over  France  will  lift 
the  ban  she  has  put  on  our  working  among 
the  Tai  of  Indo-China,  and  that  we  may 
have  the  privilege  of  continuing  the  work 
of  Drs.  McGilvary  and  Peoples,  begun 
twenty-two  years  ago  in  Luang  Pra  Bang.” 

If,  as  Dr.  Dodd  indicates,  the  French 
Government  is  willing  to  lift  the  ban  she 
has  so  long  placed  on  the  work  among  the 
Tai  of  Indo-China,  this  large  field,  with  that 
of  Yunnan,  opens  an  opportunity  for  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  which  is  clearly 
mandatory. 


ii 


3.  In  July,  1914,  there  was  a conference 
held  at  Batanga,  West  Africa,  attended  by 
representatives  of  all  the  Protestant  Mission 
Boards  at  work  in  Cameroun.  A definite 
agreement  was  arrived  at  as  to  the  country 
to  be  occupied  in  southern  Cameroun  by  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  northern  Cam- 
eroun by  the  Baptist,  Basle  and  Gossner 
Missions.  In  August,  1914,  war  was  de- 
clared. The  Baptist,  Basle  and  Gossner 
missions  are  no  more.  They  will  not  be 
permitted  for  years  to  go  on  with  their 
work.  The  French  Evangelistic  Society, 
although  weakened  by  the  war,  will  gladly 
co-operate  with  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  in  this  fruitful  field.  The 
French  Society  will  furnish  some  valuable 
missionaries,  but  we  must  furnish  the  sinews 
of  war  and  bear  the  brunt  of  the  burden. 

Here  is  a vast  territory  north  and  east 
of  our  present  Mission  with  possibly  1,000,- 
000  inhabitants,  which  we  must  enter  or  it 
will  be  neglected.  Instead  of  ministering 
to  1,000,000  people  as  we  do  now  in  south- 
ern Cameroun,  our  definite  responsibility 
will  reach  2,000,000.  The  people  are  in 
a plastic  state,  they  are  ready  to  receive  the 
Gospel.  Our  Swiss  and  German  brethren 
carried  on  an  excellent  missionary  enter- 
prise. We  will  have  to  purchase  their  prop- 
erty, involving  an  expenditure  of  many 
thousands  of  dollars,  and  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  open  a main  station  at  Yaounde,  and 
possibly  8 or  9 outstations  if  the  field  is  to 
be  adequately  occupied.  It  is  probable  that 
the  French  Government  will  have  the  mand- 
atory for  Cameroun.  Our  missionaries  are 
working  in  most  harmonious  co-operation 
with  the  French  missionaries.  They  have 
asked  us  to  undertake  this  work.  It  belongs 
to  us  in  the  Providence  of  God.  If  the 
Presbyterian  Church  does  not  enter  upon 
his  work,  it  will  prove  itself  recreant  to  a 
sacred  trust. 


12 


4.  The  world  is  watching  to  see  who  will 
be  mandatory  for  Syria.  The  National 
Bulletin,  representing  the  Syrian  National 
Society,  pleads  for  “Syria  for  Syrians,  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  United  States.” 
Whoever  undertakes  the  mandatory  for 
Syria,  there  can  be  no  question  that  the 
Presbyterian  Church  has  a mission  manda- 
tory in  that  land.  In  the  light  of  the  war, 
the  self-sacrificing  service  rendered  by  the 
missionaries  during  the  days  of  famine,  of 
pestilence,  of  suffering  and  of  sorrow,  the 
large  sums  sent  through  the  Board  from 
Syrians  in  this  country  and  distributed  to 
starving  Syrians  in  Syria,  and  the  very 
efficient  service  rendered  since  the  war  by 
the  missionaries  in  carrying  out  the  plans  of 
the  “Near  East  Relief” — give  the  Presby- 
terian Mission  a place  of  prominence  in 
Syria  that  no  other  Board  enjoys.  But,  in 
addition,  there  is  a call  to  open  a new  mis- 
sion at  Aleppo.  The  world  waited  eagerly 
for  the  cavalry  of  Allenby  to  reach  Aleppo. 
The  mission  world  now  calls  on  the  Presby- 
terian Church  to  occupy  this  field.  Here  is 
a city  with  its  adjacent  territory  of  250,000 
inhabitants.  It  is  situated  at  the  junction 
of  the  Syrian  railway  and  the  Bagdad-Con- 
stantinople  line,  is  most  strategic,  is  the 
northern  center  of  Arabic-speaking  people, 
and  is  practically  unoccupied.  The  Syria 
Mission  at  a meeting  held  in  July,  1919, 
adopted  the  following  resolution: — 

“That  the  Mission  lay  before  the  Board 
the  absolute  necessity  in  loyalty  to  our 
Divine  commission,  of  securing  the  prompt 
and  effective  occupation  of  Aleppo  by  some 
Society  or  combination  of  Societies.  It 
rests  upon  our  Mission  as  the  leading  or- 
ganization in  north  Syria  to  take  the  initia- 
tive in  this  matter.”  This  is  mandatory. 

Aleppo  is  north  of  our  Syria  Mission.  It 
will  connect  us  with  the  American  Board 


13 


Mission  in  Asia  Minor.  It  belongs  to  us. 
The  enhancement  of  the  Presbyterian  For- 
eign Missions  enterprise  in  the  light  of  the 
war  is  nowhere  more  apparent  than  in 
Syria. 

5.  Afghanistan  has  long  been  a closed 
land  to  the  missionary.  The  gateway  to 
Afghanistan  is  Meshed.  Twenty  years  ago 
the  Rev.  Lewis  F.  Esselstyn  attempted  to 
open  a station  at  Meshed.  Ke  was  driven 
out.  In  1911  he  returned  and  again  essayed 
the  task  of  occupying  Meshed  with  the 
thought  of  reaching  Afghanistan.  Ke  died 
in  1918  at  Meshed,  having  ministered  to 
thousands  of  famine-striken  Persians  and 
preached  the  Gospel  to  many  thousands  of 
Moslems.  He  died  a martyr,  but  he  and 
other  workers  have  made  possible  the  open- 
ing of  the  road  to  Afghanistan. 

The  hospital  at  Meshed  in  1917-18  did  an 
extraordinary  work.  In  this  single  year 
thousands  of  patients  were  treated  who 
came  from  Herat,  Baku,  Bokhara,  Tash- 
kend,  Kabul  and  Khandahar.  The  physi- 
cian’s lancet  has  opened  the  way  into 
Afghanistan.  Prejudices  have  been  broken 
down,  and  superstition  driven  out  by  the 
unselfish,  scientific,  spiritual  service  ren- 
dered by  the  missionaries  from  far-away 
America,  and  by  the  generous  gifts  of 
Americans  for  the  relief  of  famine-stricken 
Persians.  There  never  was  a clearer  call 
or  one  more  mandatory  than  that  which 
comes  from  Meshed  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  to  make  a beginning  towards  reach- 
ing the  6,000,000  of  people  in  Afghanistan. 
A road  to  India  has  been  opened  through 
Afghanistan  by  the  British  Government. 
A new  Gospel  road  to  Afghanistan  has  been 
opened  through  patients  in  the  hospital  who 
have  learned  something  of  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  through  his  servants. 


14 


IV. 


“CHRISTIANITY  AND  HUMAN 
CONSERVATION” 

The  enhanced  significance  of  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise  is  seen  in  the  new  re- 
lation, shown  in  the  light  of  the  war,  be- 
tween Christianity  and  human  conserva- 
tion. 

The  missionary  study  topic  for  this  year, 
which  thousands  will  study,  is  “Christianity 
and  Human  Conservation.”  Through  the 
long  years  of  the  war,  the  missionaries  of 
the  Board  in  non-Christian  lands  have  been 
making  clear  how  close  is  that  co-operation. 
The  immediate  physical  relief  which  must 
be  ministered  in  the  course  of  the  coming 
months  by  the  missionary  in  such  lands  as 
Syria  and  Persia,  following  the  splendid 
service  during  the  years  of  the  war,  en- 
hances the  significance  of  the  missionary 
enterprise. 

In  the  report  of  the  Near  East  Relief  it 
is  stated  that  in  one  fortnight  in  Aleppo, 
'kOQO  refugees  were  repatriated,  that  in 
Beirut  26,000  garments  a month  were  dis- 
tributed in  the  villages,  and  in  Tripoli, 
11,000,  But  by  whom  was  this  distribution 
made?  By  the  missionary. 

In  Aleppo  alone  there  are  1,800  refugees, 
and  the  number  of  orphans,  and  children 
cf  our  fellow  Christians  in  Syria,  the  num- 
ber of  aged  and  infirm  who  must  be  cared 
for,  are  legion.  The  work  of  human  con- 
servation in  Syria  laid  upon  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  involves  not  only  enor- 
mous expenditures  for  immediate  relief,  but 
larger  expenditure  of  conserving  what  is 
left,  not  only  of  things  material,  but  of 
human  life,  so  that  Syria  may  become  a 
strong  nation. 


15 


Some  idea  of  the  vastness  of  the  recon- 
struction needed  can  be  seen  from  a single 
instance.  In  Urumia,  Persia,  practically 
everything  connected  with  the  Mission  has 
been  destroyed.  The  American  School  for 
Boys,  the  Fiske  Seminary  for  Girls — that 
splendid  institution  which  has  done  such 
valiant  service  for  Persia — the  29  churches, 
the  Westminster  Hospital  fragrant  with 
the  memory  of  Dr.  Joseph  P.  Cochran, 
the  great  Urumia  Press  dating  back  to 
1839,  probably  all  of  these  splendid  mis- 
sionary landmarks  are  completely  wiped 
out.  The  country  has  been  tramped  over 
by  hostile  armies,  rent  and  torn,  yet  for  a 
large  section  of  Persia  the  only  human  con- 
servation that  the  Persian  can  look  to  is 
to  be  found  in  the  service  of  the  members 
of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission.  It 
is  estimated  that  we  will  need  at  least 
$1,000,000  to  reconstruct  Persia,  so  that  the 
work  can  be  carried  on  as  it  was  before  the 
war. 

It  is  suggestive  that  during  the  year  end- 
ing June,  1919,  at  Meshed,  Persia,  only  one 
case  of  smallpox  was  found.  This  was  due 
to  the  wonderful  vaccination  system  intro- 
duced by  the  Missionary  to  combat  this  and 
other  diseases.  By  the  aid  of  the  mission- 
ary, laws  were  enacted  forbidding  the  ex- 
posure of  meat,  authorizing  the  destruction 
of  decayed  fruit,  disposing  of  garbage;  and 
printed  directions  were  distributed  for  fight- 
ing cholera,  typhoid,  and  typhus  fevers- 
“If,”  said  the  missionary  at  Meshed,  “we 
had  six  doctors  instead  of  one,  we  could 
reach  and  touch  men  in  each  of  the  ten 
great  districts  of  Khorosans,  in  centers  of 
from  50,000  to  250,000  each.” 

Unless  the  Presbyterian  Church  under 
takes  this  work,  it  will  not  be  done. 

One  of  the  large  fruits  of  the  war  was 
the  value  of  preventive  medicine.  During 

16 


the  war  period  negotiations  were  completed 
with  the  Rockefeller  Foundation,  by  which 
a great  movement  was  inaugurated  in  China 
in  the  cause  of  preventive  medicine.  Under 
this  arrangement  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  co-operated  with  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  in  the  hospitals  at 
Paotingfu,  at  Changteh,  in  the  Union  Col- 
lege at  Tsinanfu,  in  the  union  hospital  at 
Chefoo,  and  the  great  Peking  University 
where  is  the  largest  medical  institute  in 
China. 

This  institution  gives  a four-year  course 
in  medicine,  and  a year  of  special  work  in 
the  laboratory.  It  has  a medical  college 
for  women,  and  a training  school  for  nurses. 
A single  gift  of  $800,000  was  made  by  the 
China  Medical  Board  (the  organization  of 
the  Rockefeller  Foundation)  for  the  pur- 
chase of  land  for  this  hospital.  During  the 
war  years  these  plans  were  worked  out, 
and  are  now  in  active  operation. 

During  the  war  a government  official  in 
Siam  was  disturbed  because  his  soldiers 
seemed  so  weak  and  unable  to  do  effective 
service.  He  asked  one  of  the  missionary 
physicians  to  examine  one  hundred  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  barracks  at  Nan.  The  ex- 
amination showed  100  per  cent  of  hook- 
worm. To-day  an  extensive  effort  in  co- 
operation with  the  Government  is  being  car- 
ried on  in  Siam  to  drive  out  the  hookworm. 

In  Africa  the  missionaries  are  asking  for 
a $50,000  hospital  largely  in  order  that  they 
may  have  facilities  for  studying  native 
diseases,  and  doing  laboratory  work  that 
will  result  in  the  prevention  of  disease. 
The  Board  with  its  175  hospitals  and  dis- 
pensaries has  ample  opportunity  for  this 
work  of  prevention. 

Human  conservation  is  also  economic. 
In  the  University  of  Nanking,  with  which 


17 


the  Board  is  affiliated,  there  is  a College  of 
Agriculture  which  provides  a full  five-year 
course  in  agriculture  and  forestry.  The 
students  in  this  University  come  from  four- 
teen out  of  the  eighteen  provinces  in  China 
and  the  government  has  given  efficient  sup- 
port to  this  institution.  It  is  estimated 
that  85  per  cent,  of  the  population  of 
China  is  agricultural.  Millions  of  Chinese 
will  be  better  fed,  clothed  and  supported  be- 
cause of  the  work  carried  on  by  this  and 
kindred  institutions. 

In  India  one  of  the  missionaries  of  the 
Board  served  on  a committee  of  the  Gov- 
ernment having  special  reference  to  the 
food  supplies  of  the  country  and  of  the 
Indian  army.  One  missionary  of  the  Board 
invented  a plow  now  in  use  in  India,  which 
because  of  its  adaptiveness,  its  availability, 
the  fact  that  it  can  be  easily  repaired,  is  help- 
ing to  change  the  whole  system  of  agricul- 
ture in  India.  The  work  done  by  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Board  in  furnishing  in- 
creased supplies  of  food  and  in  enlisting 
Government  cooperation,  is  only  the  begin- 
ning of  what  promises  to  be  a large  work  of 
human  conservation  in  India. 

The  mass  movement  in  India  is  turning 
thousands  of  the  poorer  classes  to  the  Gos- 
pel. The  missionary  is  providing  an  ade- 
quate means  of  support  by  which  these 
people  with  their  new  ideas  and  new  ideals 
can  obtain  sustenance  and  become  citizens 
of  the  new  India  which  is  sure  to  be  devel- 
oped as  one  of  the  great  results  of  the  war. 

The  great  work  of  human  conservation, 
however,  is  what  one  of  the  missionaries 
from  China  designates  as  “The  stiffening  of 
the  moral  sense  of  the  nation.”  This  the 
missionary  is  doing  throughout  the  Oriental 
world. 


18 


In  China  the  fight  for  opium  is  not  over. 
Enormous  quantities  of  opium  and  morphia 
are  being  smuggled  into  China.  In  Syria 
the  most  distressing  sight  which  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Board  who  visited  Syria  during 
the  present  year  saw,  was  the  profiteers 
who  rode  around  in  automobiles  with  a 
vulgar  display  of  wealth  made  by  holding 
grain  from  their  fellow  countrymen  who 
were  dying  of  famine.  The  saddest  thing 
about  the  work  in  Persia  was,  not  the 
famine  stricken  people  who  had  to  be  fed, 
but  the  lack  of  gratitude  and  inhumanity 
of  Kurds  and  Persians  alike.  The  attempted 
kidnapping  of  a noble  missionary  woman 
and  the  death  of  a brave  missionary  who 
defended  her,  as  told  in  the  September  num- 
ber of  “The  Atlantic  Monthly”  (under  the 
title  of  “And  Can  These  Things  Be?”)  is 
a story  of  which  every  lover  of  missions 
should  be  proud. 

The  work  of  human  conservation  is  some- 
thing more  than  furnishing  food  and 
raiment  to  starving  Syrians  or  dying  Per- 
sians or  suffering  Chinese  or  influenza  in- 
fected Indians  or  persecuted  Koreans,  it  is 
to  bring  home  to  men,  weary  and  worn  with 
oppression  and  poverty,  the  larger  things  of 
life  which  come  through  a right  conception 
of  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 

THE  ENHANCED  SIGNIFICANCE 
OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  FOREIGN 
MISSIONS’  ENTERPRISE  IN  THE 
LIGHT  OF  THE  WAR,  SHOULD  SPUR 
US  TO  THE  LARGEST  ENDEAVOR  IN 
THIS  DAY  OF  GRACIOUS  OPPOR- 
TUNITY. 


Abram  Woodruff  Halsey. 


November  1919 


Form  2687 


